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	January 18th through 22nd, 2006

Thursday morning was cool and cloudy. Some of us laid out the location of the forts, others fished, and still others observed the fort construction from a warm cabin while eating breakfast.

The wall forms were setup and filled with snow. Three of the forts used a new "Dry Pack" method: snow is piled into the form and the pressure "polymerizes" the crystals in about an hour. The result is a light, strong wall ready for decoration.

During the day, a one horse open sleigh dashed through the snow. As they left us over the fields, laughter was heard all the way.

Saturday started off cold and bright.

The temperature had dropped close to the dew point causing a thick (+2cm) covering of hoarfrost on all the forts.

By mid afternoon all the garrisons were ready for the night's bombardment.

Our fort had snow pillers and a winged war turret.

Launch tubes were carefully placed and aimed in the hopes of scoring direct hits.

SSJ's team added some snow bolders and ideograms of warning to their walls.

The "through the wall" firing system offered the fighters maximum protection during the conflict.

Krispa and company left their walls remarkably unadorned. Many were amazed at the oustandingly blank walls and decided it was either a form of camouflage, some sort of statement of nilism, or a testament to Krispa's love of leisure.

Mr EMT's had a boulder edifice and "through the wall" ports. The war igloo built in the center of the four forts had no offensive capablity.

A pile of defensive snow boulders intended to block skip shots from Mr. EMT was the last of the structures.

The forts were built, the rockets purchased, and the shirts printed. All that was left was for the sun to set.

The sunset turned out to be a good one.

The battle peaked quickly under the dark, star filled sky.

Ignition problems plagued Krispa's fort (second from the right, the one not firing rockets) all night.

Mr EMT was the next force to be tormented with lighting troubles.

SSJ and our fort pumped out a steady stream of poorly aimed ordnance for over an hour.

Mr EMT overcame his ignition difficulties and managed to light a few. The war ended about 90 minutes and 1000 rockets later.

Afterward, the bar was opened. Tales of great shots, bad lighters and glory were exchanged over adult beverages.

The great stick pickup started at 8:30 AM Sunday.

There were an awful lot of spent rockets scattered over the surface of the lake. It seemed to take forever to pick them all up. We may be back sooner than the planned weekend starting on St Patrick's day. When we left, there was 10 inches of ice on the lake and maybe 4 inches of snow.<br><br><br>-Nemo

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